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Flight issues

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Re-calibrated the compass and took the 20 out for a spin. Put it up at about 6 feet. The 20 had a lot of vertical and horizontal drift. I landed it and tried again and the issues were worse. The 920 started to drift alot so I tried to bring it back and it would not respond to the right stick commands. I had to do a hard landing as it was drifting.

Is this due to just calibrating the compass? Any thoughts as to what occurred? Thanks in advance
 
Re-calibrated the compass and took the 20 out for a spin. Put it up at about 6 feet. The 20 had a lot of vertical and horizontal drift. I landed it and tried again and the issues were worse. The 920 started to drift alot so I tried to bring it back and it would not respond to the right stick commands. I had to do a hard landing as it was drifting.

Is this due to just calibrating the compass? Any thoughts as to what occurred? Thanks in advance
Drifting is usually caused by a problem with the right stick. Check it in Hardware Monitor and see if the right stick is smooth and returns to exactly zero at center stick.
I'm guessing it is sluggish and does not respond to stick input as it should. If you search for stick cleaning you will find some posts on the method used to clean them.
 
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Drifting is usually caused by a problem with the right stick. Check it in Hardware Monitor and see if the right stick is smooth and returns to exactly zero at center stick.
I'm guessing it is sluggish and does not respond to stick input as it should. If you search for stick cleaning you will find some posts on the method used to clean them.
Hey Mr Steve, I talked to a wise man who told me to check the hardware monitor. I did that before flying but I will check again.
 
While I agree with Steve regarding checking the hardware monitor for stick issues, there are other factors to consider:
  1. Enough satellites
  2. No other interference
  3. Quality calibration
I mention this only because of an issue with an attempted flight yesterday. Heavy cloud cover and minimal satellites - struggled to get 16 while on the ground for the H480; 10 on the ST16. Also, power lines (the telephone pole, two wires, 20 feet up type) were along the country road on the other side of my launch point.

I knew the environment might be tricky and prepared for it. As soon as my H got up about six feet, I could tell it was reacting to more than my control attempts. I didn't bother to try gaining altitude but instead brought it right back down as best I could. (nice landing, no less!)

Scrapped my intent to record a "drive up the road" and instead walked up to the property I needed to capture. The lines at that point were about 50 feet away. No issues with drift at all and successfully accomplished the intended flights, even in tight quarters (the trees, the trees).

Jeff

P.S. no calibrations were performed; only a change in launch point. I trust if I had sent the H higher, it would have been fine, but my gut said... "don't do it" per my earlier "preparation".
 
While I agree with Steve regarding checking the hardware monitor for stick issues, there are other factors to consider:
  1. Enough satellites
  2. No other interference
  3. Quality calibration
I mention this only because of an issue with an attempted flight yesterday. Heavy cloud cover and minimal satellites - struggled to get 16 while on the ground for the H480; 10 on the ST16. Also, power lines (the telephone pole, two wires, 20 feet up type) were along the country road on the other side of my launch point.

I knew the environment might be tricky and prepared for it. As soon as my H got up about six feet, I could tell it was reacting to more than my control attempts. I didn't bother to try gaining altitude but instead brought it right back down as best I could. (nice landing, no less!)

Scrapped my intent to record a "drive up the road" and instead walked up to the property I needed to capture. The lines at that point were about 50 feet away. No issues with drift at all and successfully accomplished the intended flights, even in tight quarters (the trees, the trees).

Jeff

P.S. no calibrations were performed; only a change in launch point. I trust if I had sent the H higher, it would have been fine, but my gut said... "don't do it" per my earlier "preparation".
Number of satellites were good, and I was in the middle of a field with no wires around. I'm going to check sticks and retry.

What's a quality calibration?
 
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thoneter,

My intent was to differentiate between a good calibration ( e.g for compass it was done in the proper environment and within the allotted time frame) rather than a calibration what was thought to be good but actually was not. Some have been bitten by the "I thought I did it right, but turned out I took too long to do it" followed by: "I might have been too close to the buried power cables running to my house/garage/building, et al."

Just my long-winded way of saying it is possible to botch a calibration without knowing it.

Jeff

P.S. Whereabouts in SW MN are ya? (Feel free to private message if you would rather.)
 
Number of satellites were good, and I was in the middle of a field with no wires around. I'm going to check sticks and retry.

What's a quality calibration?
If drift is in a single direction, for example, always to the left, then it is a problem with the right stick. When the ST16 is turned off, just run the stick around aggressively. That often cures the problem. If it doesn't then reply here.
 
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thoneter,

My intent was to differentiate between a good calibration ( e.g for compass it was done in the proper environment and within the allotted time frame) rather than a calibration what was thought to be good but actually was not. Some have been bitten by the "I thought I did it right, but turned out I took too long to do it" followed by: "I might have been too close to the buried power cables running to my house/garage/building, et al."

Just my long-winded way of saying it is possible to botch a calibration without knowing it.

Jeff

P.S. Whereabouts in SW MN are ya? (Feel free to private message if you would rather.)
I'm in Luverne, which is as SW as u can get. Calibration went well and much more engaging on a 920 than the 480. I thought there might have been a better way to check the compass calibration.
 
I'm in Luverne, which is as SW as u can get. Calibration went well and much more engaging on a 920 than the 480. I thought there might have been a better way to check the compass calibration.

I know exactly of where you speak! Had to visit a couple times when I was out in the field [service]. Not a bad drive from the Twin Cities unless working all day then having to drive and work through the night, then drive back. Oh those days of working the standby shifts!

:D

Jeff
 
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Compass cal with the 920 is fussy. Start out pointing north, all boom changes rotate left, count the beeps. You have about a minute to get it done.

It does sound like a dirty stick issue though.
 
Compass cal with the 920 is fussy. Start out pointing north, all boom changes rotate left, count the beeps. You have about a minute to get it done.

It does sound like a dirty stick issue though.
Watched the compass calibration video numerous times and they give you 30 seconds. I'd think doing it with 1 person would be tough. The 920 LED's changed colors during the drift but I don't remember the color sequence as I was more focused on not crashing.

I actually had to work today which was a bummer as no wind. Hopefully tomorrow will be nice to try again
 
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I'm getting ready to venture out and do another test flight of my 920. I checked the sticks in hardware monitor again and everything is working with no glitches. My assumption and only mine is that it is because I didn't give the T enough time to acclimate to the satellites. The T was drifting a lot more than my H's do after calibrations.

The only thing that I didn't look at was the accelerometer as the H has that built into the st16 but no where that I could find on the 24. So for those brighter than I and that's most, I wonder if I should have let the 920 sit for another 15 minutes before flight to build the database before taking off.
 
Is there a GUI for the 920? If so does it give you access to calibrating the accelerometer?

And I have to say it takes a little more work to take the 920 out to play then the 480!
 
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OK I'm now a firm believer in letting any drone acclimate to the satellites for 15 minutes after calibration or if the drone is moved over 100 miles. Previously I only let it set for 12 minutes before flight. Today I used some spent batteries and let the 920 sit with power on but props off for over 15 minutes. An article that I read stated that satellite orbits are monitored by ground stations, and each satellite broadcasts the almanac every 15 minutes, IIRC. (In other words, if you can flawlessly receive one satellite for 15 minutes, you should have a complete, updated almanac.)

The 920 was stable with hardly any drift horizontally and vertically. Satellites were 17 and 5 as they were 2 days ago. I am now a firm believer in letting the compass build the database of satellites before taking off. My speculation is that 2 days ago the drone had the same # of satellites but had not rec'd enough of a database to know where it was at all times and that's why the LED's cut out and the 920 didn't respond to the right joystick.
 
OK I'm now a firm believer in letting any drone acclimate to the satellites for 15 minutes after calibration or if the drone is moved over 100 miles. Previously I only let it set for 12 minutes before flight. Today I used some spent batteries and let the 920 sit with power on but props off for over 15 minutes. An article that I read stated that satellite orbits are monitored by ground stations, and each satellite broadcasts the almanac every 15 minutes, IIRC. (In other words, if you can flawlessly receive one satellite for 15 minutes, you should have a complete, updated almanac.)

The 920 was stable with hardly any drift horizontally and vertically. Satellites were 17 and 5 as they were 2 days ago. I am now a firm believer in letting the compass build the database of satellites before taking off. My speculation is that 2 days ago the drone had the same # of satellites but had not rec'd enough of a database to know where it was at all times and that's why the LED's cut out and the 920 didn't respond to the right joystick.

Yuneec has told others that the GUI for the Q-500 also functions for the 920 but I have not read of anyone successfully using it.
 
Yuneec has told others that the GUI for the Q-500 also functions for the 920 but I have not read of anyone successfully using it.
I read that post also and concur.
 

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